Ramoowalia quits SAD, joins UP govt

Sunday, 01/11/2015

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CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was taken unawares on Saturday morning after senior party leader and former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government as cabinet minister.

Balwant Singh Ramoowalia taking the oath of office as Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister as chief minister Akhilesh Yadav looks on in Lucknow on Saturday.

Ramoowalia, who had joined the SAD in 2011 after dissolving his Lok Bhalai Party and had unsuccessfully contested from SAS Nagar in the 2012 assembly polls, did not inform even Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal about the decision.

He sent his resignation by post to the residence of education minister Daljit Singh Cheema in the morning.

Talking to HT over phone after the swearing-in, Ramoowalia said he had sent his resignation to Cheema’s residence. “I have not joined Samajwadi Party (SP). I have joined the UP government as Independent,” Ramoowalia said, adding that at times one had to take tough political decisions.

“My decision to join the Akhilesh government is based on my long association with the SP since it backed me when I was a Rajya Sabha member in 1996. I got a call from Mulayam Singh Yadav to join the government two days ago and could not decline it as I am indebted to him,” he said.

On October 25, news web portals had reported about Ramoowalia quitting the SAD, but he had vehemently denied it saying he could not leave the party when it was passing through a crisis. While Ramoowalia kept the cards close to his chest, the Akali leadership was caught unawares. Cheema, chief spokesman of the SAD, refused to take the calls, whereas SAD general secretary and Anandpur Sahib MP Prem Singh Chandumajra reacted in disbelief. “I just heard it and had no idea about it. Till yesterday, he wanted chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to give him an appropriate responsibility and today I hear he has quit the party. This is nothing but treachery,” Chandumajra said. Senior Akali leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar said the development came as a shock to him.

“The UP government has taken him to get minority votes, especially of Sikhs. But, Ramoowalia has crossed all limits,” he said. SAD MP Naresh Gujaral, when contacted in the afternoon, wasn’t even aware of the move, and said it was news to him.

Ramoowalia was member of the SAD core committee, the body that takes key decisions in the party. However, he was not being called for the committee meetings for more than two months and was feeling alienated and suffocated.

He was also made member of a panel, along with SAD minister Gulag Singh Ranke and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjit Singh GK, when the SAD announced to contest 35 seats in UP in the 2017 assembly polls. “However, Ramoowalia pre-empted the SAD and offered himself as the Sikh face to handle these constituencies for the SP in the next elections,” a top SAD leader said.